CYBERSPACE : Will PCs Take a Breather--or Crash
It isn’t only stock traders who will be paying attention this week when a host of technology companies--including Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Texas Instruments and advanced Micro Devices--announce their quarterly profits.
The report will help indicate whether the volatile technology sector--and especially the all-important personal computer business--is slowing down dramatically or simply pausing to catch its breath. the prices of many technology shares may swing dramatically during the week as investors try to read often-contradictory tea leaves.
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Putting technology to work: A two-day conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena will highlight ways that companies and individuals can use new technology. Seminars will focus on sources for financing hightech ventures, how to benefit from business incubators and career opportunities in fields such as multimedia, biotechnology, and wireless communications. The conference, co-sponsored by Women Incorporated, will be held Thursday and Friday. There is a $90 registration fee. For information, call (818) 354-5556 or visithttps:www-techtrans.jpl.nasa.gov/women/women.html.
THIS WEEK
* Tuesday-Friday: Children from arround the world are invited to discuss their lives and concerns online as part of “Children First: A Global Forum,” a conference being hosted by former President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. The forum Wed site is https://www.globalforum.org
* Wednesday, 6 p.m.: Ex-CIA director William Colby profiles his experiences with the KGB CompuServe.Go CONVENTION
* Thursday, -- p.m.: Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, answer questions about the company’s popular Web browsing software. Prodigy.Jump:Chat
* Confused about all the fuss over the Communications Decency Act? Get up to speed with a visit to “Cyberporn: A New Legal Bog” https://www.public.assu.edu/langel/). The site covers the history of obscenity law, the debate in Congress and filtering software such as SafeSurf and NetNammy. There’s also a primer for those still wondering what the Internet is, anyway.
* PBS Online’s Life On the Internet(https://www.pbs.org/internet/) examines “the way people use the Internet and its impact foe all of us.” This week, the site focuses on Hollywood’s embrace of the global computer network. Future topics include religion, commerce and education on the Net. The Life on the Internet TV series airs Saturdays at 4 p.m. on KCET.
Site suggestions can be sent to cutting.edge@latimes.co
HOT SPOT
Paul Edwards, the guru of the working-from-home-movement, says technology is feeding the growth of the home-office movement.
In addition to the site he hosts with his wife, Sarah (https:/www.homeworks.com), Edwards recommends the Telecommuting, Teleworking and Alternative Officing home page at
https://www.gilgordon.co.
The site helps visitors decide whether they are good candidates for working from home. If the answer is yes, there’s advice on what kind of equipment you’ll need and how to smooth-talk your manager into letting you work in your pajamas from the comfort of a bedroom, kitchen or perhaps a dedicated home office.
